Be Good Boy’s Song Break Down of Their EP: ‘Music From Nowhere’
Words by Ivan Salinas
Back to Front: George (lead vocals & guitar), Chris (guitar), Jackson (drums), Nikki (keys), Kass (vocals), Alex (bass). Photo Cred: Milan Dileo
In July of 2020, the San Fernando Valley-based band Be Good Boy released their electric EP, Music From Nowhere; A 23 minute-length EP packed with six energetic tracks containing all the magic from each of its members, and really cool cover art done by illustrator Andrew Van Gansen.
I had the fortune to see them perform twice prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both shows were captivating and always left me excited to hear more from them. At the time, their debut album Siddartha (2016) was the only one available on their platforms, and though it was a great effort to put something out there, I knew what would come next from them was going to be an instant mind-blower. And in July of 2020, I was proven right.
So after listening to the tracks over and over for quite a few months, I DMed them to set up a socially distanced interview—so distanced it happened over the phone. We got to hear each other’s voices and they talked about their most recent creative work, among other things. A lot has happened since we last spoke.
To start off 2021 their music video for “Floaty Copter” dropped at the end of January. Directed by Eric Abell and starring actor Tyris Winter, the audiovisual work is a solid collaboration between up-and-coming artists. The track is also the final song of the EP which its lyrics reflect a voice pleading for inner-peace, a theme that resonates with the current times we are living through.
The band also took this introspective period to compile a series of songs hidden from the vault back in 2017 under the album title The Observer. Technically it’s the record that started the band we currently know since it is a jump from its predecessor’s acoustic tracks to a full-fledged band taking a groove.
Meanwhile, bandmate Jackson Rau released his second single “Move On!” a song that stands out for its production, much like the entire EP he oversaw last summer. The production of Music From Nowhere was mostly guided by Jackson’s vision. In the final mastering, the optimistically chill energy of each song is carefully arranged, demonstrating the maturity of its dedicated musicians working from their home studio.
Summer of 2020 was perhaps the worst time for millions of people that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but in the midst of this, their EP was a jolt of positive energy for the listeners stuck at home, missing the packed concert venue, and wondering what this new brave world will bring. From the four-count start of “Battle Coat” to the gloomy sounds of “Floaty Copter,” the EP is an instant classic of our cherished valley music scene.
Be Good Boy’s last show before the pandemic took place on March 7th, 2020 during The Cozzmos final show before they officially broke up. That show marked the end of an era. Long friends of George, he said that that last show put a cap on what he grew up in within the valley music scene.
“It put a more mature effort on how we approach music now. I’m not thinking about it as the same backyard shows with the same people, now it’s with people we don’t know and figure out how to make them like you to some extent without being fake about it.”
To talk more about the process for making this EP, the random (yet somewhat deep) song titles to how the final tracks were fully developed out of demos, here’s our EP-breakdown conversation back in October.